Unprankable
by Kayane Joel
Summary: Lily and her friends have always hated the four Marauders. But when one of Lily's best friends and one of the famous Marauders form a secret alliance, will Lily and James have to call a truce? [jl]
1. Interesting Train Ride

**Unprankable**

**Chapter 1**

* * *

James Potter. You would think, from a distance, that he is just a boy like all the others, but that first impression is false. James Potter is no ordinary boy; quite the contrary, however, he's everything you could dream for. Well, everything a very shallow girl could wish for: he's rich, hot, and plays Quidditch so well he's led his team to victory, year after year.

He was currently standing self-assuredly on Platform 9 3/4, not bothering wasting his time looking at anyone. Everyone knew what he was waiting for – the rest of the Marauders. As usual, though, the three other Marauders were late. You'd think they would bother to show up on time, this being their first day of fifth year! However, James suddenly turned to his left to see one of his very best friends run on to the platform.

Sirius, a tall, black-haired boy, was the first to reach James. He enthusiastically greeted his friend, and as they began to discuss that summer's main events. Soon after his appearance stumbled a slightly shorter boy, who was having a bit of trouble with his overlarge trunk. He ran up to his two friends, out of breath and red with the effort.

"My mum," he whispered to his friends. They nodded knowingly. It was not the first year that Peter's lovely mother had decided to pack her son's trunk with a multitude of colorful sweaters that he (as would any other sane person) would rather die than wear.

The last one to arrive was Remus Lupin. His fair looks and blue eyes, as well as calm and intelligence, made him amongst the most eligible bachelors of Hogwarts. He walked over to Sirius, James, and Peter with his slow, confident walk, and, busy discussing the pranks they had separately come up with during the last week ( the only time they had spent apart during their entire summer vacation), they walked inside the Hogwarts Express and into an empty compartment.

James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter, respectively nick-named Prongs, Padfoot, Moony, and Wormtail, were the best of friends. They were as close as brothers, always looking out for each other. When other people looked at them, they were certain that nothing could ever come between these boys.

"So, Prongs!" exclaimed Sirius. "How's it going with Evans?"

"If you would talk louder so everyone else on the train could hear, please?" groaned James.

"Oh, I take it you haven't exactly told her then," said Remus, even though he knew very well that James couldn't really tell her. You see, James was wanted by every girl in her right mind. Unfortunately, Lily Evans was not in her right mind, therefore she did not adore him...

Lily Evans was... a very interesting young woman. She was the kind of girl who had everything: the brains and the looks. She was neither short nor tall, a height which the other girls enviously called "perfect". She had flaming red hair, falling about halfway down her back, and sparkling emerald eyes. The Hogwarts boys liked to debate on what made her beautiful, but never could really choose between the eyes and hair. But Lily Evans was not, as most would expect, stuck up and self-centered, but exactly the opposite: nice and funny. She was, in most cases, calm and forgiving. She did, however, have a bit of a temper when it came to James and his friends, but that was part of what made James Potter have an enormous crush on her.

James Potter remembered the exact day, in third year, that he had fallen for her.

_FLASHBACK_

_Peter, Sirius, Remus, and James were celebrating the first day of winter as they always did, with a traditional Prank Day. They planned this day carefully all year long, making sure that every student in Gryffindor was pranked at least once. It was about noon, and they had taken care of the entire houses of Hufflepuff and Slytherin, as well as most of Ravenclaw, and were now heading over to the History of Magic class, where they hoped to prank the Gryffindor girls from their year._

_They entered the classroom proudly, with a quite noisy arrival. They shared their History of Magic classes with Ravenclaw. As soon as they had entered the room, several Ravenclaws had hid themselves under their desks, hoping to escape the infamous pranks. Some Gryffindors had their wands out, bracing themselves. Others simply shielded themselves with their rather large history books._

_Only one person remained calmly taking notes as the professor, already quite old and half-deaf, continued his lesson: Lily Evans. The four Marauders looked at each other, surprised at such a reaction. A slow smile spread on Peter's face, as the other boys quickly decided what to do with her._

_They stood rooted to the spot, and speedily transformed a lamp into a large cauldron, which they proceeded to fill with a disgustingly green liquid, poured out from Sirius' wand. Then, James levitated it into the air, and steadily positioned it over Lily's head._

_People in the classroom had begun to whisper anxiously, and Lily's friends were trying to motion to Lily, but she didn't look up from her parchment. Right when the four boys were about to dump the bucket over her head, she calmly stood up, and turned slowly around._

_"If you let that bucket fall on my head," she started stonily. "I will - "_

_Sirius burst out laughing, interrupting her mid-sentence. "What exactly are you going to do?" he laughed._

_James flicked his wand, and the bucket began to tip over. Lily promptly flicked her own wand, sending the bucket flying to the other side of the room, then letting it spill all over the four Marauders._

"_That's exactly what I'm going to do," she said placidly. "I would suggest not trying to prank me again."_

_The class erupted in cheers, everyone laughing hysterically, even though most were the Marauder's adorers._

"_She's got some sort of a sixth sense!" exclaimed Remus, awestruck._

_And as James wiped the sickening, nauseating goo of his face, he couldn't help but think that this unprankable girl was sort of... Sort of hot!_

From that day on, James hadn't been able to stop thinking about Lily Evans. He was, however, a rather arrogant person, and he didn't want to ask her out, knowing that she might turn him down. He preferred to avoid telling his friends this, and liked to excuse himself by saying that "it was not the right moment". He had also been dating a different girl every week, trying to find one that could maybe take his mind off the beautiful red-head.

Unfortunately, every single girl had failed that. And so it became the Hogwarts girls' objective: to make him keep a girlfriend for more than a week, each witch competing for his attention.

Most girls, after being turned down by James, got over him as quickly as they could, and then began to adore Sirius, Remus, or even Peter.

And now, two years later, he still had a hopeless crush on her, and she still paid no attention to him.

Lily Evans was currently sitting on her large trunk on the platform, waiting for her three best friends. She was really bored, even though there were many other people around her, saying hello to her. Just when she was going to die from boredom, a flash of brown startled her, and a something hurled itself at Lily.

"Lea!" Lily exclaimed, hugging her.

"Lily!" Lea mocked, grinning excitedly. "How are you?"

"I'm fine!" laughed Lily. "How was your summer?"

"Awesome, of course!" Lea replied carelessly. "More details later."

Lea was a very enthusiastic, good-natured person. She threw herself into everything she did. She was generally a great friend, and a very popular girl. But that wasn't entirely due to her great character: she happened to also be a very pretty girl. She had long, straight brown hair with natural blonde highlights and light, dancing blue eyes. She almost always had a nice tan, because she spent most of her time playing Quidditch. Although she was short, she was one of the most talented seekers the Gryffindor team had seen in half a century.

The second to arrive was Justine. She was a pretty quiet person, but not the least bit weak. She was in fact quite the opposite, a very strong person. In general, Justine was the reasonable one of the four. She knew her limits, but did not hesitate to do crazy things for the people she loved. She was very talented in music, and often entertained her fellow Gryffindors with songs and tunes. She had blonde hair cut just below her shoulders, and soft hazel eyes.

As Justine hugged her friends warmly, overjoyed to see her friends after two long months, Mona arrived.

Mona was also a very pretty girl, obsessed with fashion. She had the largest wardrobe of all of Hogwarts, and loved to spend her time reading Muggle fashion magazines. She had a terrible temper, but seemed to be getting better. She never wanted to hurt her friends, but sometimes when she was mad at them, she could be very nasty. They didn't blame her for it, thought, but her parents, who spoiled her terribly. She also happened to flirt with all of Hogwart's male population . But Lea, Justine, and Lily, loved her dearly, and forgave her for all of this.

The girls, chattering cheerfully, got onto the train, heading towards their usual compartment. As Lily headed opened the door and entered the compartment first, she abruptly stopped. Lea bumped into her.

"What the-?" she began, putting her hands on her hips and looking over Lily's shoulder.

"Hey," said Justine, pushing past Lily. "What – " she stopped dead when she saw the four Marauders.

"What are you doing here?" demanded Lily unhappily, staring at the four boys she loathed. Well, not so much Peter and Remus, but she couldn't STAND James and Sirius. Especially James.

"Sitting," answered Sirius as innocently as he could. Which wasn't very innocent.

"Out!" exclaimed Mona. "NOW."

"Well, there's plenty of room for all!" called James in a falsely sweet voice.

"Oh yes, let's all squeeze in here and have some fun!" said Lily sarcastically.

"Whatever you say, Lily," said James, his gaze dropping to her chest.

Lily gasped. "You perv! You – you just – "

"Please get out?" asked Mona, trying to contain Lily's anger by opening the door and motioning towards it invitingly.

"Sorry," answered Peter. "But our compartment is being used to transport new books for the library to Hogwarts- we were told to stay here."

Lea looked at the four Marauders, and saw a glint of mischief in Sirius' eyes. She frowned, and sat down as far away from them as she could.

"Lea, why don't you come sit down next to me?" asked Sirius, flirtatiously.

"Ew!" exclaimed Lea disgustedly. "Get away from me, Black!"

The other Marauders cracked up, finding Sirius' behavior highly entertaining.

Justine sat down in a corner of the compartment, and pulled out a book, completely ignoring the boys. Lily seated herself next to Lea, and Mona sat down right next to the boys.

"Awkward silence," muttered Remus.

"Awkward silence? Never with me!" exclaimed Sirius. Lea snorted at this, and bit her lip. "Well, what?" he asked.

"Awkward silence! Never with me!" she mimicked.

"In that case!" he exclaimed, before grumpily exiting, looking for something to eat.

As soon as he left, there was silence. Lily brusquely stood up. "Well, this really proves that whoever said 'the more the merrier' was obviously wrong. I propose that we call a truce for the length of this train ride."

"A truce?" snorted James.

"As if!" exclaimed Peter.

"Fine!" sighed Lily. "Have it your way!"

She sat back down, crossed her arms, and waited, staring out the window. At that moment, Sirius entered carrying armloads of candy and cakes, smiling again.

"Well someone's suddenly in a good mood!" said Lily.

"Food does that sort of thing to me," he told her, smiling. "Want some?"

"Sure!" she exclaimed happily, grabbing a chocolate frog. "Thanks!"

"Wait a second!" called out James, shocked. "You're... You're..."

".. being civil to each other?" completed Peter, equally outraged.

"Food does that sort of thing to people!" they both exclaimed, before dissolving into laughter.

"Righty-o, then," said James. "I might as well join in if food is involved!" he said, grabbing a caldron cake and stuffing it in his mouth.

"This doesn't mean we have to be civil with each other after, right?" asked Lea cautiously.

"Fo fhway," said James, his mouth still full of food.

"Well, in that case..."

And soon, the four boys and the four girls were happily eating the mountain of candy, much to the dismay of their adoring "fans", looking through the window of the compartment, wondering why they couldn't join in the fun.

"Wait, Evans and Potter get along?" called a Hufflepuff bimbo from their year enviously.

"NO WAY!" yelled a Ravenclaw before crying hysterically.

"But- Sirius, he's... he's talking to that Lea girl!"

"Oh my gosh!" a girl cried. "He can't be! I just got a tattoo of his face on my – "

It was a sad, sad day for the Hogwarts girls... Little did any them know that the Marauders and the four girls had solemnly sworn they would never act nice to each other again.

Meanwhile, none of them would admit they were having so much fun.

* * *

A/N: Well, here's my new story! I'm sort of having trouble with the other one, and it was getting too overdramatic for me, so I decided to start this one... With the help of yellownotepaper, my awesome beta. I really like this story.. And yes, it does have a plot! I don't want it to end up like a typical romance story...

Please review!

Kayane


	2. Lost Appetites

**UNPRANKABLE**

**Chapter 2: Lost appetites**

"God, did you see James Potter today?" announced Mona dreamily.

Lily, while getting herself a glass of water from the sink, called back to her from the bathroom, "Duh, we were all there!"

"Prat," commented Lea carelessly as she slipped into her silky blue pajamas.

"He's a handsome prat, he is," said Mona, taking out her book and beginning to read.

Lea, who was about to dive onto her bed and finally get to sleep, froze on the spot. Lily spit out the water she had been drinking, and Justine dropped her big package of Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans, which promptly spilled all over the floor.

"What?" choked Lea, her eyes as big as dinner plates.

"OUR MORTAL ENEMIES? yelled Lily, throwing a pillow at Mona, her face contorted in disbelief.

They both turned to Justine, expecting her to say something, but she was turning an interesting shade of red.

"She's choking on a Bertie Bott's!" exclaimed Lea, running over to heroically 'rescue' her friend.

Mona, however, didn't seem the least bit disturbed. She was fully concentrated on her book.

"Traitor!" Justine said, her voice trembling. Mona didn't react.

"MONA! Listen to me!"

Still no answer. Lea gave a little cry of rage and sent Lily's glass of water, still half full, and splashed it all over Mona's book, sending it flying.

"Hey!" cried Mona. "I was reading that!" She quickly cast a drying charm at the book, and then shouted, "Accio!". The book flew into her outstretched hand as she glared at Lea.

"OH come ON!" yelled Lea. "You're not SERIOUS about this, are you?"

"What's not to be serious about? He's hot, rich, and boy can he play quidditch!" Mona said, ticking her points off on her fingers.

Lily appeared to have gone into shock. Her mouth hung open, appalled, and didn't seem to be working correctly. "You…oh my god…dear Merlin, let this please be a dream…"

"More like a nightmare," said Lea, still at Justine's side.

"What?" asked Mona, staring at them all like there was nothing wrong about liking James Potter.

"That was the most superficial thing I have _ever_ heard _anyone_ say!" shouted Lea.

"Hey, I don't like him just for his looks and popularity!" exclaimed Mona, even though that was then entire reason. "He is good fun too! I really like him... I love his confidence!" she added with a far-off look in her eyes.

Lily wearily lay down on her bed. What was going on? Not only had she actually been _civil_ to the Marauders today, but now one of her best friends was in love with her sworn enemy!

"My head hurts," moaned Lily. "This is too gross, too... just too wrong for me to think of it!"

"I think I'm going to bed!" said Lea, exhausted.

"Great idea," said Lily before collapsing on her bed.

Lea and Lily were so preoccupied with Mona's latest crush that they hadn't noticed that Justine had barely said anything to Mona, and was now twirling her hair with a very worried look in her eyes.

* * *

"Interesting train ride, eh?" Peter commented as they entered their dorm.

"Yeah," agreed James, flopping onto his four-poster.

"It was rather fun... " Sirius agreed, copying his actions. "But we're strict enemies now, like it has always been."

"Well, we could change that," said James slowly, pondering.

"To change that, my friend, we'd have to have the ladies' agreement. And I'm not absolutely sure that our dear friend Lily Evans will be delighted with being your friend," said Peter, jumping on his bed.

"Well you didn't have to be so honest about it, Wormtail!" exclaimed James grumpily.

"Time to face the truth, Prongs!" called Remus from his bed.

James sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. He wished his friends were wrong...

* * *

"Wake up!" called Lea joyously. "Liiiiilllyyy! Justiiiinnneee! Time for breakfast!"

"You don't have to be so happy about it," grumbled Justine from her bed.

Lily sat up sleepily, rubbing her eyes. Mona was already up, and evidently had been for the last few hours. She had carefully done her hair, and was doing her makeup at the moment.

"She's been doing this for hours," Lea whispered to Lily as she gazed upon Mona. Mona had carefully dressed in clothes that hugged her body and (in Lily's opinion) were dreadfully revealing, even though her robes would cover that. Shoes littered the floor, and there were a few dozen bottles of hair spray scattered amongst the mess.

"Mona," Lily grumbled, still not fully awake yet. "What are you doing?"

"Looking my best!" Mona exclaimed sweetly.

Lily growled, not very happy about the huge mess.

"I'm not letting you out until you clean this up!" the red head said sternly as she got up and began to get dressed.

Lily pulled a brush through her wavy, red hair and fastened her favorite necklace around her neck. It was an emerald on a simple silver chain, but it was her mothers, and reminded her of home. And she didn't mind that it matched her eyes. She put on a little bit of mascara, the only makeup she allowed herself to wear on school days.

She got out her plain black robes and put them on over a simple white t-shirt and jeans. She them proceeded to stand next to the door, tapping her foot impatiently.

After a few more minutes, Mona finally stood up. And even Lily had to admit she looked stunning... but a bit like the Slytherin girls, though Lily didn't say that aloud. She knew Justine was thinking the same thing.

They quickly walked to the Great Hall, and unfortunately found that the only places left were across from the famous (or infamous) Marauders. Even though they were extremely popular, no one wanted to sit near them at breakfast, when they were either grumpy or in a mood for pranks.

Lily sighed heavily, then seated herself the furthest away from the boys as possible. Lea sat next to her, also frowning. Mona, however, sat down as closely to James Potter as she could, and Justine took the last place, right next to Remus.

"Hi, James," said Mona sweetly. "Do you mind if I sit here?" Giving him no time to answer, she continued. "I can't wait for the Quidditch game tomorrow... You're such a good player!"

Lily's eyes widened and she suddenly felt sick to her stomach. Her best friend... is flirting with Potter? Lea had turned green, and seemed unable to eat anymore of her pancakes.

"Do you mind if I finish your pancakes?" asked Sirius thickly, chewing on a bit of sausage.

"Go ahead!" said Lea dryly, pushing her plate towards him. "I've lost my appetite."

"Hint!" Lily coughed, looking at Mona. But Mona didn't seem to notice, she was too busy batting her eyelashes at James.

"Okay, I can't stand to watch this," said Lea suddenly. "Lily?"

Lily stood up quickly, and exited as quickly as possible, not noticing that James' eyes followed her out of the room.

* * *

"So," droned the Professor of History of Magic. "You will be assigned partners for a project, and you will be able to choose and element from Wizarding History or Muggle History which you wish to research on. You will write an essay that must be 3 feet long, and I expect each of you to do an equal share of work. You will work by groups of four..."

But Lily Evans was not listening. She was doodling on a crap of parchment, staring absently at the chalk board. Her green eyes had a faraway look in them...

James loved watching her in History of Magic. She would always daydream, with this enchanting, almost fairy-like look to her. It was the only class where he would allow himself to think about her, and at all other times he tried to block out thoughts of her, knowing very well that he could never have her.

Mona was chatting with him, having kicked Peter out of his usual seat, and seated herself next to her crush. After a long monologue, she suddenly realized he wasn't listening.

"And so," she started, testing him. "The purple knight mounted his noble steed and fought the dangerous dragon." No reaction.

She tapped her perfectly manicured nail against the wooden desk. She put her hand on his arm, and leaned over to whisper in his ear. Then, she decided against it. She followed his gaze, trying to see what he was staring at so intently. He was looking at…..Lily? No, she had to be wrong! She checked a second time. And a third. Oh no…

James has a crush on Lily?

Mona felt almost sick with jealousy. This sort of thing had never happened to her before! The boys had always liked her better than her friends. Never had any boy, knowing that she liked him, gone for another girl.

If James, or Lily, or anyone had turned at that moment, they would have seen Mona's eyes glittering dangerously, a spark of mischief visible.

She leaned over and whispered in his ear. "Meet me tonight, in the Common Room. Midnight."

"Alright," he answered, giving her an odd look.

And when the professor assigned Lily to be James' partner, Mona decided what she would do.

* * *

"So she said, 'Meet me tonight, in the Common Room. Midnight'" James said to his fellow Marauders.

"Well done mate," said Sirius, patting him on the back. "She wants you _bad_!"

"Yeah, but you know very well that if I go out with her, I will inevitably break up with her after a week. And then- well, just imagine Lily's reaction!" James put his head in his hands. "I have no options – none at all!"

"Hate to break it to you," said Peter, smirking. "But you currently don't have any other options to lose."

"Yeah," agreed Remus. "And anyway, she'd probably be mad at you if you didn't go out with Mona."

James sighed, looking out the window. He didn't want to go out with yet another girl, searching for a new Lily. He had already discovered that no one else had that special charm that had captured his heart oh so many years ago. But, maybe Mona wouldn't be that bad...

She was Lily's friend, after all. They must have something in common...

So he got up and left his room, walking slowly down the stairs into the Common Room, decided to leave it Mona's boyfriend. And he would prove himself to be a great boyfriend - just to show Lily that her idea of him was wrong. Yeah!

James grinned to himself as he opened the door out of the boy's dorm and peeked over to the common room.

The common room was completely deserted, except for Mona, who waited for him on a couch. He groaned inwardly- Mona was about to ask him out in the exact same way every other girl he had ever dated had. She would make him sit on the couch, and then say something about how she could make him forget Lily.

"James!" she exclaimed, seeing him. "Come sit next to me. I wanted to tell you that I think you deserve better than Lily..." she patted the seat next to her invitingly.

"Oh really?" he asked. "I thought you were her friend..." he added, walking down the stairs and sitting down next to her.

"I am, but I'm not going to hide the truth: you deserve someone who really loves you. Someone who would do anything for you..." Mona said, her hands wandering all over his chest.

"And by anything you mean..?" James said, smiling. This might be fun!

"Well, getting up at 5 in the morning to do the makeup. Anyways, I'm saying that you deserve someone like me..." She leaned over and kissed him passionately on the lips, as if to prove her point.

"I'll take that as a yes," she said, giggling madly. "Good night!"

With that, she flounced up the stairs, leaving him sitting on the fluffy couch. He had believed that Mona would, at least, maybe be a bit more creative about asking him out. She had just given him the exact speech every other girl had. He sighed heavily, just knowing that he had gotten himself into yet another boring relationship. Mona was like all the others.

Why was the only girl who really was different uninterested in him?

* * *

A/N: Thanks go to Jingle-Bellz-ROCK, mkiara, chiaki Sumisu, Yazmari, PotterScar, ArtemisPotter, and Aisling-Siobhan for being wonderful reviewers! Thanks so much! And thanks also go to yellow notepaper, for being a wonderful beta!

Next update by Friday!


	3. Jealousy

**Unprankable**

**Disclaimer**: I only own Lea, Justine, and Mona...

_Jealousy  
Turning saints into the sea  
Swimming through sick lullabies  
Choking on your alibis  
But it's just the price I pay  
Destiny is calling me  
Open up my evil eyes  
Cause I'm Mr. Brightside_  
**  
Chapter Three: Jealousy**

_Lily hurried out of the Potions classroom, clutching her books to her chest and smiling brightly. Her classmates rushed by her, talking of the horrid lesson that they had just been relived of, but Lily could not make out their faces. The hallway was a blur, and the only thing that she could see clearly was a tall, dark figure that was standing by the vanishing cabinet, looking at her. Lily could see his eyes, dark as midnight, as they bored into her own. She felt transfixed, as if she was glued to the floor by the soles of her trainers. Luckily, the mysterious person began making his way towards her, which was fortunate, because she didn't think she could move if she  
wanted to. _

He put his hands on her shoulders, their eyes never breaking contact, and he moved in closer. Lily's breath was coming out in sharp, uneven pants, and her schoolbooks were slowly slipping out of her grasp. The boy leaned closer, his eyes half lidded, clearly having an intention of kissing her. Lily had no objection, but as she looked closer at the figure, she saw something...familiar.

That messy black hair, the piercing hazel eyes...

Lily awoke from her dream rather unpleasantly.

"AHHHH!" Lily shrieked, falling out of the bed, her hair blurring her vision. Her eyes widened at Lea's ecstatic face. "What the..?" she began. But before she could complete her sentence, Lea had yanked her off her feet and into a standing position.

"Get up! Get up!" cried Lea enthusiastically.

Lily rolled her eyes and fell back onto her bed. "I'm up, I'm up..." she moaned, grabbing a pillow and putting it over her ears, attempting to drown out Lea's laughter. "Why are you so happy about the fact that it's morning?" she grumbled. "It does happen every day."

"Well, Mona says she wants to talk to us... And that it's important!" answered Lea, twirling her hair happily.

"Maybe she's over Potter!" exclaimed Lily, throwing a pillow, with which she had vainly attempted to block out Lea's voice, onto Justine's bed. "And then everything can go back to normal!"

"Lily!" said Justine, glaring at her and holding up the pillow.

Lily shrugged. "Sorry!" she chirped.

"Guys? Can I come in?" said a voice from inside the bathroom.

"Mona!" Lea said, smiling.

"Yeah, sure," said Lily, eager to know what this 'surprise' was that Mona had wanted them to see.

"Alright!" said Mona, and they heard a giggle. Then, the doorknob turned and Mona stepped over the threshold that divided the bathroom and the bedroom.

Lily was sure that her jaw was touching the floor.

Mona had, yet again, had obviously been slaving over a hot curling iron for James again. She was wearing a black leather miniskirt and a delicate silver belt that dangled down to her mid-thigh. She put on a black, lace bra under a white corset, and had let the top of the bra show to make her look very much like a slut. Her nails were painted black to match her strappy stiletto shoes, which Lily had to admit were pretty cool. She had gone for the curly 'do' today, and had carefully fastened a black choker around her neck. She had carefully applied dark eyeliner and eye shadow, and many layers of mascara. Her face was positively glowing, with the pleasure of her completed outfit and the help of the many sparkles she had on her face.

"So do you like my outfit, you guys?" she squeaked, quickly turning as if she were on a runway.

"Um...its very...unusual..." said Justine, as Lily and Lea were unable to speak. "So," she said, her face contorted as if biting back a laugh. "What was the news you wanted to tell us?"

"Okay, here's the news," squealed Mona. She paused, as if waiting for them to plead with her to tell them. "I'm going out with James!" she finally said dramatically.

Silence.

Mona's smile began to fade. Finally, Lea broke the silence. "W-What?" she choked.

"You woke me up for that?" yelled Lily before collapsing back onto her bed.

"WHAT THE HELL?" bellowed Lea.

"Well, aren't you happy for me?" asked Mona, trying to look innocent.

"Mona... He's James Potter!" Lily informed her angrily.

"Yes, I've realized that," Mona said dryly. "What's wrong with you guys? Aren't you happy for me?"

"You already asked that. If we didn't answer, it means that NO, WE AREN'T HAPPY FOR YOU!" yelled Lea, who was becoming quite red in the face.

"Don't get so worked up Lea!" Justine said soothingly. "Now Mona," she continued, turning to her friend. "What Lea means is that we're sort of..."

"Scared?" Lily growled.

"Scared for what?" asked Mona aggressively.

"Your mental health, maybe?" Lea snarled.

"No!" exclaimed Lily. "I'm serious. I don't think he's any good- look at all the other girls he's dropped at the end of the week! I don't want you to be like them!" she added, her voice volume gradually dropping. "You'll end up getting hurt," she said quietly.

"I'm not like them! He loves me," she answered haughtily.

"Oh really? And when did he tell you that?" asked Lea, crossing her arms.

"Well, he didn't exactly say it but-"

"Aha!" interrupted Lea triumphantly. "So you're saying that-"

"SHUT UP!" shrieked Mona, stomping furiously on the ground like an angry bull. "YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND! IT'S NOT LIKE THAT AT ALL!"

"Well then what is it like?" asked Justine.

"I'm not going to get hurt!" Mona said exasperatedly.

"Look, you can go out with him," started Lily, glaring at Mona.

"Oh great, I have your permission! Now everything is fine!" Mona answered sarcastically, putting her hands on her hips.

"But at least don't turn into all those other whores he's been with," finished Lily smugly.

"What?" shrieked Mona, obviously very offended.

"Well, no offence but..." started Justine, trying to stay diplomatic. "Well... they wear the same kind of things as you do, and act the same way…"

"I JUST CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!" screamed Mona, her hands making fists at her sides. "NOW IF YOU'LL EXCUSE ME, I'M GOING TO GO FIND MY BOYFRIEND!"

Mona stomped out of the door and slammed it angrily. The wood made a pathetic cracking noise as she stomped down the stairs. 'Stupid Lily', Mona thought. 'And stupid Lea, and stupid STUPID Justine.' She was going to make sure that James Potter was crazy about her by the end of the week. And no one - not even Lily - was going to stop her.

* * *

"But I can't break up with her!" James whispered desperately to his friends. "If I do Lily will-"

But he didn't have time to finish. Sirius stuffed an entire pancake in James' mouth, stating loudly, "Hi Mona!"

"That was close," whispered Remus to Peter, and Peter nodded in agreement.

Mona crept up behind James and slithered her arms around his neck. "Hey babe," she said, kissing him lightly on the cheek and sitting herself on his lap.

James looked urgently at his friends, who were unfortunately no help. Peter was choking on his bacon, and Remus was slapping his back as hard as he could, his face contorted into a grimace. Sirius looked as if he was going to spit out his pumpkin juice, but settled for making a horrible face that looked as if he were going to vomit.

James suddenly heard a gagging noise behind him and turned around to see Lily pretending to choke herself, Lea laughing at her antics. Mona looked at James, and noticed right away how his eyes had lit up when he had caught sight of the red-head, who, even she had to admit looked gorgeous as usual. Sirius didn't notice, however, and was too busy staring at another member of the trio that had arrived.

"Well what are you waiting for?" asked Lea grumpily. "Move over."

"You're sitting with us?" squeaked Peter, his eyes as wide as the plates that held a few pounds of his breakfast.

"No, not with you. With Mona," answered Lily just as grouchily.

The three girls sat down, and squeezed between a pack of Gryffindor first years and the Marauders.

Lily sighed, grabbing a pancake and some toast. Justine picked at her food, avoiding any eye contact. Lea stared at her plate, lost in her own thoughts, not noticing a pair of eyes staring intently at her.

"Lovely," said Sirius brightly. "So how are you girls? Potions going well, I hope?" he added to Lea, who ignored him, as did Justine and Lily.

"So, James…" said Mona lazily, running a finger down his chest. "Are you busy this weekend?"

"Um.." said James, his thoughts not processing properly in his brain. "Weekend…"

"Great!" exclaimed Mona. "I thought we could go to Hogsmeade," she added, kissing him on his cheek once again, and ignoring the vomiting sounds coming from Lily and Lea.

"I…guess so," he answered half-heartedly.

"Great!" she exclaimed. She got up, turned him around, and kissed him passionately on the lips, moaning loudly and not noticing his arms flailing pathetically at his sides, his eyes wide open in panic. "Sorry, darling, have to go. I'll see you later," she added as she strolled away to talk to the 'James Potter fan club', all of who were anxious to learn the juicy (not) details of their love life.

Justine stood up. "Um…I just remembered…I left my History of Magic essay in the library," she said to Lily and Lea nervously.

"Ok, meet you in Potions then?" asked Lea, her eyes boring into Justine's, who quickly looked away and started fiddling with her fraying sleeves.

"Sure," she said, sounding relieved, and walked out of the Great Hall.

As soon as she had left the room, Remus stood up. "Got to go! Potions essay..." And with that he too walked out of the Great Hall.

Lily looked at Lea. "Why were they lying?" she whispered to her friend, a concerned look on her face.

"No idea," answered Lea truthfully. "We had better go…" she added, taking one last bite of bacon and getting up from the table.

Mona watched them leave, and once again, she saw James' eyes follow Lily out the door. She stomped out of the Great Hall, almost trembling with rage.

"It's totally obvious you like Evans," Sirius informed James.

James sighed. "What do you want me to do? Anyway, I have to go talk to her." he added, standing up and ignoring Peter's gasp of surprise.

"Oh really?" asked Sirius, waggling his eyebrows suggestively.

"History of Magic essay," said James, laughing at Sirius' antics.

"Well, it's a start," said Peter moodily, picking at his bacon.

"Shut up, you" said Sirius, chucking a bit of egg at his head.

James ran down the hallway, his hazel eyes searching for a glimpse of red. Up a bit farther, he saw her walking, her eyes to the floor and her hands in her pockets. She was clearly thinking about something.

"Hey, Evans?" said James cautiously, stuffing his own hands down the pockets of his robes.

His words seemed to bring Lily out of a revire; her head snapped up and she turned around, her eyes questioning.

"What, Potter?" she said, a bit wearily, as if his words weren't worth her time.

James raised an eyebrow, trying to act as if he wasn't shaking like a leaf on the inside at the prospect of talking to her. "History of Magic essay?"Lily swore. "I had forgotten about that. Um... How about the free period after Transfiguration?"

"Can't," he answered sheepishly. "I've got Quidditch practice."

Lily sighed exasperatedly at this and bit her lip.

"Well how about tonight, before dinner?" he asked.

"Fine," she answered. "Meet me in the empty classroom on the second floor at 5. And don't be late," she added sternly.

"Yes, mom" he said, grinning at her and walking in the opposite direction. His heart was soaring, and he felt like skipping down the hallway. She hadn't even insulted him. Yeah, it was a start all right!

"Good afternoon," he said, smiling down at a bunch of first years. Their eyes widened and they ran away, squealing in fright. This didn't affect James at all; on the contrary, he was strolling down the corridor, not noticing when Mona ran down towards him, her face livid.

"James Potter!" Mona screeched, glowering at her so called 'boyfriend'. "What the hell were you doing talking to her?"

"Talking" he answered vaguely, still smiling.

"James – " she began, suddenly noticing the broad grin on his face. "What are you smiling about?"

"Nothing," he answered innocently.

"Fine," she said angrily. "Fine. Don't tell me. But you still haven't answered my question!"

"Question?" said James, his head turning slightly to the side.

"WHY WERE YOU TALKING TO LILY!" she shouted, not caring that many passerby were staring at her.

"I was setting up a time for us to work on our History of Magic essays!" he snapped back, looking annoyed.

"James," she said, her lower lip quivering. "D-don't snap at m-me; I'm your g-girlfriend!"

"Sure," he said indistinguishably, walking right past her. "See you in Transfiguration."

As soon as he left, Mona kicked the wall violently, screeching curses at the wall and the unfortunate people who happened to be walking past her. 'It was so unfair!' she thought. 'Lily didn't do anything to make James like her; she didn't dress to impress, she didn't wear any makeup (besides mascara) and she didn't even bother looking at what she was putting on in the morning! And yet James Potter liked her.' A small tear was forming at the corner of Mona's eye, but Mona quickly brushed it away so it wouldn't ruin her makeup. Plus, crying in public was SO last year.

But suddenly Mona stopped crying.

An idea was forming in her head, and she was really liking the form it was taking.

Mona rubbed her hands together eagerly, her eyes glinting maliciously. She would make James Potter like her –

And make Lily Evans pay.

'Killing two birds with one stone,' Mona thought happily. 'And its not even ten o' clock!'

* * *

**A/N: Review! (please?)**


	4. Revenge: Part I

**UNPRANKABLE  
by Kayane Joel**

**Disclaimer: You know the drill... I own anyone you haven't heard of!**

**Chapter 4- Revenge: Part I**

Nice shot, Danes," James yelled at Luke Danes, a chaser with a fantastic arm. Luke blushed; he was not used to compliments, and was rather shy.

"Thanks," he said as he passed James, a ghost of a grin visible on his face. James looked at the rest of his team, grinning. They were sure to win the opening match against Slytherin that Tuesday.

"Oi, Potter," said Genevieve, another chaser, as she flew up to him. "I'm pretty sure we're gonna win with the new tactics, so can we just leave?" she whined. "I can't feel my toes!"

"And my hands are blue!" complained Lea as she flew up to join her teammates.

James snickered. "Wimp," he shouted back at her as he sped away and around the goalposts. "We can't leave yet, we have yet to work out the rest of our forms; so far we've only done chaser forms," he added as the chasers looked at him indignantly.

"Alright, alright," he said, throwing his hands up in defeat. "Just one more time, chasers, and we'll work on the beater forms later today. I'm sure I can book the Quidditch field again, everyone else has already practiced," he said darkly as Genevieve smirked at him." Into position!"

* * *

Mona hurried across the grass, messing up her skirt, running towards the Quidditch Pitch. The Gryffindor team was practicing today, and she was sure that James Potter's personal fan club was waiting for him to finish up so they could ambush him like they had been doing ever since he came to Hogwarts. Sure enough, she could just make out a cluster of girls impatiently waiting outside the pitch, gossiping and painting each other's nails. 

Mona quickly ducked behind the Hufflepuff stands, licking her fingertips and running them under her eyes to make it look like she was crying. Mussing up her hair, Mona shivered. Surprisingly, miniskirts do not keep warm.

"Hi girls!" Mona called out in her saddest voice, sniffling loudly.

"Hi Mona!" they all chorused back, looking oddly at her.

"Mona, darling," said Roxy, the leader of the fan club, rushed over to her. "What ever is the matter?"

"I-I need your help," she began, wiping a tear off her cheek and letting out a very fake sob.

"What's wrong?" the girls asked, crowding around her, their eyes wide.

"It's - It's... oh, it's Lily Evans!" cried out Mona pathetically, her sniffles exaggeratingly loud.

"She - she's trying to steal James away from me!"

All of the girls stared at each other disbelievingly.

"I need to get Lily away from James! And for that, I need your help!" she said, changing her tone to one of business and determination.

They stared at her in silence. Finally, a girl straightened, and walked over to Mona.

"We're with you, Mona. No one likes a boyfriend-stealer." she said firmly.

Mona smiled through her false tears. "Oh, _thank you!_ she cried, giving the girl a hug.

Grinning into her shoulder, she began to formulate a plan. She knew exactly what to do. And as she walked back towards the castle, once she was out of sight of the girls, she began to skip merrily, her eyes spiteful and cruel.

James Potter loved the Marauders. So she would become a Marauder.

And what better way to become a Marauder than prank Lily Evans, the one that was called, 'unprankable'?

* * *

Justine frowned. She had been reading, but the noisy crowd to her left was a bit disruptive. She looked up, about to tell off the people who had been making the noise (after all, she WAS a prefect) and caught sight of a group of girls crowded around someone. Curious, she put her book in her bag and slung it over her shoulder, trying to make out what they were saying. Squinting at the girls, she could just make out Mona; 'she must be the one talking' she thought, biting her lip. 

"I need to get Lily away from James! And for that I need your help!" she heard Mona say.

Justine dropped her book. She knew that Mona could easily mean trouble. She bent over, picked up her book, and sprinted towards the castle, hoping that she could catch Lily in time.

* * *

Lily was curled up in a fluffy armchair by one of the fireplaces in the Common Room, happily reading one of her favorite books. The Common Room was completely deserted, which was a relief; Lily loved the simple sound of the crackling fire and the occasional page turn. Relaxed, she finished the third chapter and leaned her head back. Resting it on the plushy surface of her chair, she smiled and closed her eyes, setting herself up for a nap. 

"Hey Lils," said Lea, coming down the stairs and sitting next to her, affectionately punching her in the arm. "What's up?"

"Well, I WAS going to take a nap – " Lily began, but she was cut off by someone frantically yelling at the Fat Lady. Lily her book on the side table next to her, questioningly approaching the portrait hole, Lea right behind her.

"Goberumworms! Unterbyle!" Lily heard a girl shouting hysterically. "AUGHH! What is the password, dammit?"

"Justine?" said Lily, opening the portrait hole to let her through.

"Lily! Oh my goodness, I'm so glad I found you!" said Justine breathlessly, rushing in and grasping her shoulders. "I saw Mona – she's plotting something against you Lily! You _must _be careful!"

"Oh come on!" Lea said, laughing as she led her friend back into the Common Room. "There's no way - "

"Lea - believe me, she is going to do something to Lily."

"But why to me?" Lily asked, bewildered, taking back her place in the posh armchair.

"She thinks that James loves you!" Justine said, her eyes darting as she spoke the truth.

"James?" Lily said, her eyes wide and her mouth wide open. "Love ME? Mona's finally gone her rocker!"

"Of course! It's nonsense!" lied Justine, fumbling with her bag. She knew Lily would never believe her if she told her what Mona had said was true, and she might even ditch her as she did Mona; she _definitely_ did not want that to happen.

"Well, if she believes that, then they're no telling what she'll do," Lily said, biting her lip nervously.

"But even the Marauders haven't succeeded in pranking you yet!" Justine said admiringly.

Lily groaned. "That's her plan. She's going to try to prank me, which even the best prankers in the school haven't been able to do, to get his respect and love."

"I have a bad feeling about this," moaned Justine. "What if she does something as bad as her sense of humor?"

Lily laughed, although her eyes showed some of the fear she was trying to hide. "There's no way I'll let her get to me, Justine!"

"If she bothers you, I will kick her ass!" yelled Lea enthusiastically. "We're a team! If she wants to prank you, she'll have to go through us."

Lily grinned, the fear in her eyes disappearing gradually at the thought of Lea and Justine's protection. She had the best friends in the world.

* * *

Mona had decided to dress up for the occasion, as usual. She had traded her miniskirt for a black short shorts and a skin-tight tube top with red lace sewn on the pockets and matching red pumps. She sang to herself as she glued on her fake, red nails. 

_Don't you jump in it's not your fight  
your ideas mean shit to me you ain't on my side  
it's my revenge, it's my revenge _

my last resort, my broken pact  
I have a reason and a cause to fight back  
it's my revenge, it's my revenge

I won't stand for it anymore  
you know my time has come  
gonna see some changes  
won't stop till i've won

it's my revenge, it's my revenge

_(-Sick Of it All)_

Revenge _was_ sweet... She put on bright red lipstick and fake eyelashes.

"Not too bad!" she exclaimed, staring at herself in the mirror. She looked at her black robes distastefully. "The robes have got to go," she said to herself. Oh well. She would wear her red robes over her outfit. Maybe James would notice her more... She grabbed her wand and headed out of the bathroom. She needed to corner Justine.

And if she had the timing right, her revenge would be so sweet.

**

* * *

**

**A/N: next update ASAP. I won't leave you with a cliffie for too long! Review!**


	5. Revenge: Part II

**UNPRANKABLE**

**Chapter 5- Revenge: Part II**

* * *

"Aw crap," said Justine, stopping dead in the middle of the hallway leading to the potions classroom. "I forgot my potion's book," she moaned.

"You better hurry, then," said Lily, checking her watch. "Class starts in 10 minutes, and the Gryffindor tower is on the other side of the school."

Justine's eyes widened, and she nodded at Lily as she sped off into the distance. Shaking her head, Lily continued the walk to Potions. Justine seemed to be forgetting things all the time now….

Justine ran through the halls, not really paying attention to the happenings around her. The rest of the corridor was deserted (as far as she could see) and this worried Justine even more; they were probably at their class already.

Justine turned a corner and ran into something. She humped in fright when the something started to speak: Mona.

"Justine," said Mona in a falsely sweet voice. "Sorry to bother you, you seem caught up in your thoughts, but we need to talk to you…" she finished maliciously as Roxy and another girl she didn't know jumped out from behind her and pushed her into a closet.

"Mona!" Justine screamed, pounding on the door with her tiny fists. "Let me out of here!"

Ignoring Justine's muffled protests, Mona checked the large clock on the wall. Still ten minutes to go before step two. She walked at a leisurely pace through the halls, heading towards the potions' classroom.

Finally she came to a halt in front of the large library doors, sure that Lily would be out looking for Justine in a minute or two. Sure enough, Lily came through the door, a concerned look on her face, carrying her bag as well as Justine's.

Mona looked around, waiting for Rhonda Hawkins, a small third year, to make her appearance. As if reading Mona's thoughts, a small girl appeared, doing as planned. Rhonda ran up to Lily and tapped her on the shoulder, her face innocent and her voice frantic.

"It's your friend! Your friend is in trouble!" exclaimed Rhonda breathlessly. "She... lake... I... you... help her!"

Perfect.

Lily dropped the two bags she was holding and darted through the halls, pushing through a small crowd of 4th years and dashing off towards the lake.

Lily arrived at the lake approximately 1 minute later (sure to be a record), and came to a halt. The surrounding area seemed to hold no human life.

"Where is she?" she screamed to herself. "What's going on?"

"Oh, nothing much!" said Roxy sweetly, appearing behind Lily. She whirled around, staring at Roxy. "It's just that Justine seems to have... fallen into the lake."

Lily's eyes were filling with angry tears.

"But seeing as you're terrified of swimming... I don't see how you can save her!" Mona said dramatically, her voice gleeful, appearing behind Roxy.

But Lily's next move stunned her. Lily didn't stop to think of the consequences, nor did she pause to think about whether or not this made sense. Diving into the lake, she held onto her wand for dear life.

Mona was thinking quickly. She had thought Lily would cower and cry, leaving James to think she was a wimp that couldn't swim. So Mona did the only thing she could think of.

"Petrificus Totalus!" she shrieked. The spell hit Lily square on the back, and immediately she grew stiff as a board. Her head disappeared from the glossy surface of the water, her body slowly sinking and disappearing in a pool of darkness.

"You're going to kill her!" someone yelled, watching Mona in horror.

"Of course not," answered Mona calmly, twiddling her wand. "I'll bring her up as soon as she'll have suffered enough."

"Or you'll bring her up now," said a voice coldly above her. Mona looked up and saw James Potter standing behind her with Lea, holding his broom in his hand, his knuckles white.

"J-James!" she said in shock, her jaw dropping. "Quidditch practice is over already?" she asked him innocently, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"You disgust me," James snarled, dropping his broom and pushing her arms off of him, then rushed into the cold water. Lea jumped in immediately after him and followed him into the dense, murky waters.

Mona panicked, she didn't know what to do. She aimed her wand at them, but someone knocked it out of her hand.

"What the hell is your problem?" asked a girl on her left in disgust, holdingthe wand in her hands.

But Mona didn't answer. She stared at the water, hoping that James would come up magically in love with her.

Under the water, Lea and James were frantically trying to see Lily. They both swam up to the surface, gasping for breath. Suddenly, James remembered a charm they had learned in fifth year. He grabbed his wet wand, hoping it would work. He murmured a few words under his breath, and all of a sudden there was a big bubble around each of their heads.

"Genius!" exclaimed Lea. She had completely forgotten about her hate for the Marauders, and in that moment all that mattered was finding her friend.

They dived under, the wands lighting the way. Finally, they caught sight of her, still sinking down towards the bottom of the lake. They swam as fast as they could towards her, but they weren't fast enough: the grindylows had caught her.

Lea frantically swam towards her friend, wondering what she could do. Suddenly, she realized what she should have done from the beginning. She yelled the counter curse to the charm. Lily floated helplessly, unconscious. "I'll shower sparks at them, you go get her!" she yelled to James. "Relashio!"

James swam down, grabbed Lily around the waist and pulled her up, swimming towards the surface, Lea following closely, holding Lily's wand in her hand. Finally they broke the surface of the lake, popping the bubbles they had put around their heads.

"Come on! We have to get her to the shore!" yelled James, his wet hair in his face.

"You pull her, I'm going to give her a heating charm!" exclaimed Lea, swimming next to him.

As soon as Lily felt the warmth, she opened an eye to find herself in the middle of the Great Lake, with James' hand around her waist and Lea swimming next to them.

"What the-?" she yelled.

"Lily! Thank God- We have to swim back!"

"Oh my gosh! We're in the middle of the Great Lake!" whispered Lily to herself. "But what about Justine? Is she alright?"

"Justine wasn't hurt at all! Mona was trying to hurt you!" exclaimed James. "Now swim!"

"I can't!" whispered Lily. "I can't!"

"Yes you can!" answered Lea, pushing Lily. "I know you're scared, but you can, trust me."

"So magically I'm going to start swimming well?" asked Lily sarcastically.

"Evans? That's what you're doing," commented James.

Lily's eyes grew as wide as saucers. "I'm swimming!" she exclaimed.

"Now we really need to get back to shore!" said Lea.

So the three of them swam all the way back to the shore, where a growing crowd of Hogwarts students were cheering them on.

When they finally arrived on dry land, dripping and freezing, the students surrounded them, happily chatting away.

"That was wonderful!"

"How did they do that?"

"Mona is going to be transferred to another school!"

"That was so cool!"

"Do you think they'll give points to Gryffindor?"

"You guys went all the way down to the bottom of the Great Lake?"

Suddenly Justine appeared at their side. She hugged her friends tightly.

"You went into the lake for me!" whispered Justine to Lily. "You're an awesome friend, you know!"

"I must say that today's events were unspeakably shocking," began the Headmaster at dinner. "But the extraordinary courage of two Gryffindors, Mr. James Potter and Ms. Lea Montirgo, is something to be remembered. And I wish all of you to consider them as models, in these times which I fear are growing darker and darker. I award them 50 points each."

And as the Hogwarts students whooped and cheered, Lily looked at James with a new look of respect, admiration, and even gratitude, and he smiled back at her.

"Peter once told me that if I wanted us to be friends, I had to have your agreement," he whispered to her while bowing to the rest of the students. "So, will you be my friend?"

Lily laughed, but her smile was enough.

James and Lily, friends.

Who would have guessed?

* * *

A/N: Well, they're friends! Sorry I took so long to update, but I'm on vacation and I've been having trouble finding computers... Well, please review! 

K.J.


	6. Conversations

**UNPRANKABLE**

**Chapter 6- Conversations**

(I won't bother with a disclaimer, 'cause you all know what's hers and what's mine! ;-)

* * *

"Are you really sure about what you're doing?" James asked cautiously as he watched Lily dump a large amount of brown powder into their cauldron.

"Have I ever been wrong?" she answered, smiling. James opened his mouth to respond and Lily shushed him with her expression. "Don't start with me, Potter," she said, turning back to her potion. James smiled as he saw the corners of her mouth twitching with mirth.

"But it says to put in 2 tablespoons of -" he began, stepping towards her to look inside their cauldron.

"And I put in three," she interrupted, dragging her big green eyes away from the slightly bubbling potion to glance at him. "I know, it's just that I'm sure it'll make the potion work better. Now you cut up those weeds, we have to get them in before the potion starts boiling."

James smiled as he cut the purple weeds into small rectangles and dropped them one by one into the cauldron. Each one emitted a small sizzling noise as it sunk in the bubbly water. It had been only a couple weeks since the incident in the Great Lake, and yet he felt completely at ease with the redhead. He liked the way she had naturally fit in with his friends, and the way he felt at ease with _her _friends. It seemed like the most natural, obvious thing that they should all hang out together. And what's more, James had done the impossible: he had decided to stop dating random girls! Well, he was in the _process_ of stopping. His grin widened slightly. He was improving, he was getting there!

"Put the rest of the weeds in now!" ordered Lily primly, interrupting his thoughts. James quickly dumped the rest of the weeds, and stir it slowly counter-clockwise. Now it was Lily's turn to watch him.

She loved being his friend. She had to admit, she'd had him all wrong, for the most part. Lily smiled, her green eyes dancing with the soft blue flame that was heating the potion. James turned out to be a pretty nice guy, and he had stopped being a playboy – mostly. She could still occasionally hear James brag to Sirius about his earlier conquests, but things were going perfectly well, since Mona had been shipped off to some other school across the ocean. It seemed like every day was a sunny one, and every moment was a happy one. It was almost like being in love...

Lily froze. Why did she think that? _Why did she think that?_

Stop.

Breathe.

Lily took a deep breath, and let it out in a big whoosh, biting her lip anxiously. There we go. "I'm not in love with James," she said to herself, smiling weakly at the mere thought.

James stopped stock still, barely believing his ears. "L-Lily?" he stammered, his eyes wide and fixated on her. Lily's eyes were equally surprised; she hadn't realized she had said that aloud. Lily could feel her cheeks burning with embarrassment, and she turned away from James to face the wall.

Lily reddened. "Nothing, nothing! I didn't say ANYTHING!" she yelled loudly, closing her eyes tightly and shaking her head back and forth while it was cradled in her trembling hands.

"But you...you said..." James stuttered, his face utterly stunned. "What – could you repeat that?"

Lily stopped shaking her head abruptly. "A-a watched pot never boils!" she said as convincingly as she could, wincing at the feeble excuse she had come up with.

"That's not what you-" James began, but Lily cut him off.

"Of course that's what I said!" she interrupted shakily. "Ja – Potter, we have to work on the potion before it goes bad- it has to simmer for only a minute and I'm sure we've gone past it!"

She had said James, right? He didn't know what she had said before- but he was _sure _she had said James.

She turned her head back to the potion, while James, still not quite comprehending what Lily had said, followed suit. His mind was still whirling with the fact that she called him James...

* * *

James sat in History of Magic, obviously bored out of his mind. He leaned back and crossed his arms, sighing loudly and glancing around the room. Sirius was staring at a pretty girl next to him, Louise Krenshaw. She stretched and grinned at Sirius, who continued to stare at her protruding chest. Remus and Peter were murmuring to one another and pointing to a graph one of them had drawn on a piece of spare parchment - he was guessing it was about the prank they were planning. Nothing huge, he had to admit, but a pretty good prank all the same. But then again, their pranks always were.

As the teacher droned on, James turned discreetly to look at Lily. He couldn't help but smile. She was avidly reading a book that she'd hidden on her lap. He loved when she'd read in class like that, because then he could stare at her all he wanted without her noticing.

He dropped his quill loudly and deliberately near her. She looked up suddenly and caught his eye. He blushed slightly, smiled, and gestured towards the quill. She raised her eyebrows, picked up the quill, and tossed it at his head. He caught it nimbly between his forefinger and his middle finger, grinning at her. She smirked back at him and placed her book in her bag. She then sighed contently, a satisfied look on her face, having finally finished her book. History of Magic was her least favorite subject, as it was most people's. Who cares how many people Ulgrid the 4th slaughtered in 1823?

Suddenly she felt something hit her hand. She glanced downwards and saw a small folded piece of parchment that had "Lily" written on it in Jame's handwriting. She picked it up delicately. She opened it up, and triumphantly put down an "x".

"I won!" she whispered to him gleefully, .

"Again?" he whispered back, a pretend pout on his face. "Man, I'm really bad at tic-tac-toe."

She laughed. James couldn't help but smile too at the look on her face.

"Hey, give me your bracelet," he said suddenly, holding out his hand and glancing around to make sure no one was looking at them.

"Why?" she asked, still laughing slightly. However, she unclasped her bracelet and handed it to him out of curiousity..

He took it carefully and hid it in his hand while Lily watched interestedly. When he opened his hands, the bracelet was lying in them, twisted into a gorgeous flower shape.

"How did you do that?" said Lily breathlessly, overwhelmed by this simple gesture.

"Magic," he whispered softly, handing it back over to her. Their hands touched for a slight second when he handed her bracelet back to her, and Lily jumped at the feeling of electricity that surged through her. She quickly jerked her hand away from his, clutching her bracelet for dear life and running her fingers on the smooth surface of it over and over to calm her fast beating heart.

* * *

Lily walked down the hall hurriedly, having only a few minutes to get to the Green House for Herbology. She stopped suddenly, and heard loud footsteps behind her. She absently turned her head, and caught sight of a girl hurrying towards her. It was Amelia Sophea, one of James' most desperate fans.

"Hi Lily," she said sweetly with a sickening fake smile.

"Hi Amelia," answered Lily.

"Well," Amelia continued in her whiny, sugary tone. "You seem to be spending an awful lot of time with James... "

Lily started to laugh slightly, a true smile on her face. "Are you suggesting that James and I are dating?"

"That's exactly what I am suggesting," said Amelia in a haughty tone, convinced that she was right.

Lily stared at Amelia in disbelief. "Have you people ever heard of a guy and a girl being friends?" she answered exasperatedly.

"Well he gave you a ring!" protested Amelia, whiny as ever.

"So?" Lily said, her smile disappearing and being replaced with a look of annoyance. "That's nothing!"

"He never gave me anything!" said Amelia, frowning and stamping the floor in anger and immaturity.

Lily sighed. Why did they all think stupid things like that? Couldn't she and James just be _friends?_ She supposed these type of girls had NEVER had a friend that was a boy...

"We're just friends!" she exclaimed.

Amelia looked at her for a second, and then said, "You're afraid, Lily."

Startled by this, Lily glanced at Amelia in confusion. "What do you mean, I'm afraid?"

"You're afraid of becoming more than friends with James," said Amelia, smirking as she saw Lily's face redden. "You're afraid it will ruin your reputation and – " she paused dramatically. "You're afraid of being hurt by him."

Before Lily had a chance to respond to this (except for her gaping mouth and clueless expression), James had turned the corner and was now making his way towards her.

"See ya," said Amelia in a satisfactory tone as she brushed past Lily, and when Lily turned around again, she was gone.

"Hey," James called softly from behind, his hand reaching out to tap her shoulder. She turned around and found herself looking into James' smiling face.

"What's wrong?" he asked, genuinely concerned at the look on Lily's face – it was a look of surprise and confusion.

"Nothing," she answered nervously, taking notice of how close their faces were.

James shrugged. "If you say so! C'mon, we're going to be late!"

He motioned to her with his hand as he walked forward and smiled at her, his hazel eyes twinkling mysteriously.

She smiled back, and ran up to him so they could walk to class together. Their hands touched again, and this time, Lily didn't pull away.

* * *

Lily sat uncomfortably in a large armchair facing the fire, trying to think of what she should put down for her astronomy homework. She shifted positions, trying to concentrate as best as she could, but it was hard to concentrate at 2 in the morning. Lily was not a morning person. She rested her head on the arm of the chair and curled up very small, so that no one could see her from the other side.

Everyone else was sleeping, so the common room was calm. Suddenly she heard soft footsteps and hushed whispers behind her. She turned around and raised her head slightly so only her eyes were showing over the plushy red chair. She rolled her eyes when she saw all four of the marauders tiptoeing towards the portrait hole. She frowned and squinted, trying to see what they were doing to no avail.

Suddenly, James stopped. He was leading the other 3, and when he stopped, all the others did too.

"James?" Remus asked, confused at his sudden pause. "Why did you stop?"

James shook his head. "I thought I heard something- well not _heard,_ I felt something! Never mind, lets just go."

As they quietly closed the portrait hole door shut, Lily got up and crept silently after them, her brain working overtime at what James had said. What was he talking about anyway? She stuck her head through the portrait hole in just enough time to see Peter round the corner. She got up quickly and followed them, trying to make as little noise as possible.

Her instincts were urging her to follow them.

And that look on Sirius' face told her that something was about to happen...

* * *

**A/N: Woah, was that a long update or what! I'm soooo sorry for not updating earlier, but I have been so busy, and frankly, not in the mood to work on the story. But now I'm up and about again- and if you're nice to me and review despite the fact that I've been an evil, un-updating person, maybe I'll update by Thursday!**


	7. Back To the Beginning Again

**UNPRANKABLE**

**Chapter 7- Back To the Beginning Again**

* * *

As Lily followed the four boys around yet another corner, her apprehension grew. She knew something was wrong - maybe because of the way Remus was hunched over and being supported by Peter, as if walking was extremely difficult and painful, or maybe because of the way none of the boys were joking. There was also the fact that Sirius seemed to be the only one smiling, which meant he knew something more than the others.

Suddenly, James whirled around, his eyes darting around the hallway suspiciously. Lily dodged behind a large statue of the famous witch Melinda Aberfondzle, who was fortunately a rather big-boned lady. Lily could almost feel his hazel eyes burning through the statue and staring at her. He squinted, but apparently saw nothing.

"Something's weird, guys," he whispered, his voice anxious. "Hurry up!" The four boys picked up their pace, running out of the door, Remus limping slightly and moaning softly in pain. Lily's heart went out to him – what was wrong?

She peered around the corner of the statue, and – seeing that the boys were gone – crept softly out from behind the large statue. 'That was close,' she thought as she put a hand to her chest in attempt to steady her staggered breath. A question popped into her head suddenly. 'How does James know I'm here?'

She shook off this thought and pushed through the revolving door as quietly as possible. A sudden downpour of rain met her outside, and she cursed as her hair rapidly became wet and stiflingly cold. She shivered as her eyes slowly adjusted to the sudden darkness, and she squinted into the blindingly black grounds. "Where did they go?" she whispered, confused as she saw nothing.

A sudden movement caught her eye. She stared at the cause of the movement - a large, doglike figure that was skulking around the Whomping Willow, careful not to get too close to its lethal branches. Lily gasped as a pure white stag appeared from behind a row of bushes that separated the school grounds from the forbidden forest. It's bright color stood out in the pitch black that enveloped everything else in the area. She squinted, trying to see better. The dog seemed to be carrying a boy, who was twitching rather oddly and becoming very pale. They were near the Whomping Willow, and the boy seemed to be shaking. She looked up at the sky.

A full moon.

Lily gasped as the boy fell off of the dog and began to transform, letting out an earsplitting, unmistakable howl. "Oh my gosh..." Lily's heart began to race. Lily put a hand to her mouth and hid behind a nearby tree as a fully grown werewolf stood where the boy had a few seconds before. Lily's eyes were wide and fearful. What if the boys were attacked by the werewolf? She knew James was a decent wizard, but not THAT good.

She caught sight of a small rat scurrying through the tall grass towards the willow. Her mind was churning, trying to comprehend all this information.

Four animals…four marauders…She gasped and clapped a hand to her forehead in horrible realization.

Moony.

Wormtail.

Padfoot.

Prongs.

It all made sense now - and frankly, she wouldn't have expected less of the infamous Marauders. They had way too many secrets for her to be too surprised by this one, even though being an animagus _was_ quite a secret to keep. She was sure they weren't registered...Oh boy, were they in a mess.

She watched closely as the rat scurried to the tree trunk of the willow, dodging its limbs easily and touching a huge knot at the base of the tree. Suddenly, the whole tree stopped moving, as if frozen. She couldn't help but smile - they had all of this worked out pretty well…but then again, they would have to do this every month. The werewolf howled again, and tried to run towards the forest, its bloodshot eyes wild and uncharacteristic. However, the huge black dog - "Sirius," Lily whispered softly – jumped in front of him and shoved the humongous creature down a hole near the trunk. Lily heard a small yelp, and then Remus was gone. The dog entered the hole in the ground, the stag quickly following. Lily scrambled out from behind the tree and sprinted towards the tree, afraid that the tree would unfreeze and harm her.

A soft crunching of leaves froze Lily in her tracks. Lily whipped her head around and saw a tall figure running across the lawn to the same destination that she had. Lily strained her eyes, trying to see who the mysterious person was. Suddenly the man came into a small patch of light, and Lily recognized a familiar, greasy face - Snape. Snape nervously took a small scrap of parchment out of his cloak pocket and read over it, his long, yellow fingers trembling and smoothing out the wrinkles in the letter. He dropped it, and, with a new sort of confidence, strode towards the hole in the tree and slid down it.

Lily rushed over to where Snape had been standing just a few seconds beforehand and picked up the thinning parchment, peering at it closely.

_Severus – Meet me through the hole in the Whomping Willow at midnight tonight. The tree will be frozen when you get there. Lily Evans_

It was written in Sirius' writing - that she knew. And she had a little feeling something really bad was going to happen... Lily's hands trembled with rage as she too dropped the letter and practically flew through the gap that Snape had a few seconds before, fury burning through her like a rapidly burning fire. She was quite aware of what they were planning to do now; a horribly dangerous, possibly fatal prank on Snape.

She clutched her wand and got up from the dirt slide that led to a long passageway. Her clothes wet and covered in mud, she ran ahead, panicking slightly.

It was time to crash the party.

* * *

She came to the end of the hall.

She saw only one open door, and sprinted towards it, her mouth itching to tell the four boys off already. She entered a small room filled by a rather large four-post bed. No one was there, but she heard noises coming from the floor below, and saw a set of ripped, torn stairs in the far right corner from where she was standing. Tearing down the stairs, she entered a huge room, all torn up as if a wild animal had been in it. She heard a very high-pitched scream, and knew it was Snape. She frantically ran through a huge door, and ended up in a small room that she recognized seeing through the outside.

'I'm in the Shrieking Shack,' she realized, her eyes still searching around for Snape and the others.

Silence.

Suddenly, Lily caught sight of a skeletal figure standing on the other far other side of the room. However, before she could warn him, two yellow eyes appeared in their midst, peering at Snape with a malicious glint.

"SNAPE!" she shrieked, horrified. "DON'T MOVE!" He turned his head towards her, his face contorted with fright and his hands shaking now more than ever. "L-Lily," he whispered.

Lily watched, almost in slow motion, as Snape tried to run away from the monstrous werewolf to reach her; his hands outstretched and his eyes wide and darting around for an escape.

She couldn't make a noise; her throat seemed to be paralyzed, and tears streamed down her face as she searched for her wand. "Oh no…" she whispered, horrified as she realized she had left her wand in the common room. Lily let out a sob, and ran her hands through her mud streaked hair and sank down on her knees as the werewolf snarled at Snape, who seemed to be paralyzed as well, one of his hands fumbling inside his pocket for his wand. However, he was too late – the werewolf lunged at him, his mouth open to reveal several sharp, deadly teeth. And just when Lily thought all was lost –

A beautiful white stag appeared.

Lily gasped as she realized who the stag was.

"James," she whispered as the stag flung itself between Snape and the werewolf.

The werewolf snarled at James, who stood unmoving in front of Snape, who was glancing fearfully at Lily, as if asking what was going on.

The werewolf sunk his claws deep into the stag's side…

Lily shouted to Snape fearfully, who was now rooted to the ground in shock. "Go, RUN!" she yelled, pointing to the door urgently. "Get to Hogwarts!" Snape looked at her, horrified, but he began to run towards the door. He looked back at her suddenly, his face contorted with fright.

"But what about you?" he yelled as the werewolf turned to her.

Lily gestured towards the door. "Don't worry, I can handle it! Just...just go!" she cried, her voice desperate. "Go!" Snape looked at her fearfully, but disappeared through the door. Lily turned to the werewolf, who was staring at her spitefully. She panicked, all previous courage gone, but the black dog jumped on it, wrestling it to the ground. Lily knelt on the floor in relief, suddenly realizing how cold she was and shivering. The stag was staring at her, as if in awe. A slow trickle of blood was dripping down its side and onto the floor slowly, but James did not seem to notice. Lily, however, stared at it.

"Oh James," she said weakly, crawling over to her. "You're – you're hurt…" she ripped her sleeve off her sopping wet cloak and pressing it to his wound. The stag jumped, but did not resist. She ripped off her other sleeve and tied the two together to make a bandage, and wrapped it around his middle carefully.

As she was pressing the fabric to his injury, she suddenly felt extremely tired, as if someone had just hit her over the head with a mallet. "J – James…" she murmured, her arms falling around the head of the stag. "I feel…so…weak…" she mumbled as unconsciousness overtook her. She had only enough time to feel the stag transform into James, his soft, warm arms holding her, and hear his whisper.

"Lily…"

* * *

"Lily…."

Lily opened her eyes heavily, her surroundings blearily coming into focus. She was in the Gryffindor common room…the soft, warm heat of the fire was hitting her face, and it felt nice compared to the coldness of her outfit.

"Lily," said James, sounding relieved, his face swimming above her dizzily. "You're awake…I was so worried…" Lily heard a shout from behind James, and Sirius' face appeared over James' shoulder, smiling broadly. Remus soon followed, his face still pale and sickly from his earlier transformation, and Peter after him.

"Lily," Remus said sadly. "I'm so sorry, this is all my fault…"

"Are you ok?" said Sirius eagerly.

"I'm fine," she answered coldly. "But you, however - you are not going to be when I'm through with you!" She tried to sit up, and gasped, her head pounding.

"Shhh," said James, pushing her back down. "You need rest, Lily," he said quietly.

"What? But - ?" Sirius cried, shocked and confused.

"I can't believe what you guys did - setting Snape up like that!" Lily interrupted, her voice as furious as ever. "He could have died!" she cried, tears forming in her eyes. Sirius' face softened at the look on her face.

"Look, Evans, it's - " began Sirius, ashen-faced.

"No! you let me talk!" interrupted Lily heatedly. "This was so not funny, so out of control! I can't believe you guys! I'm really, frankly, completely disgusted! To think that for a few moments there I actually thought you guys were alright! I actually thought I was wrong, that I hadn't given you a chance! And you," she said turning to James, her voice breaking with emotion. "You I'm really disappointed in. You were so nice to me that I actually thought you were sincere. So from now on, consider the truce over."

"But-" protested James, his face horrified.

"But NOTHING!" yelled Lily, her face determined and tear-stained. "You have ruined everything we had, James Potter, and the trust I put in you will not return for a long time…if at all..." Her voice trailed off, and her eyes stared into James' heartbroken ones with sincerity. "Could someone please get me a pillow? You can't carry me to my dorm, for the stairs will not accept that…and its better that no one else knows about this…are we clear?" she said darkly. The four boys nodded, and Peter carefully walked up the stairs to get Lily a pillow and a comforter. He returned a minute later with the desired items, and he, Sirius, and Remus walked sadly up the stairs to the boys dormitories. James, however, waited a bit longer, just staring at Lily.

"I'm sorry, Lily," he whispered, so softly that Lily could barely pick it up. Her eyes became glassy, but she turned away from him so he could not see. She heard his sigh, and when she turned around again, he was gone.

* * *

"What happened Lily?" Lea said as she joined her red-headed friend in the Great Hall for breakfast.

"Do I look that bad?" asked Lily grumpily. Lea and Justine looked at each other, then back at their friend.

"Yes," they answered in unison.

"Thank you," she answered sarcastically, dumping some eggs on her plate moodily.

"Did something really bad happen?" asked Justine. "Or are you just in a really crappy mood?"

"Let's just say it was bad enough that I won't be talking to Potter or Black any time soon," answered Lily furiously. Her eyes closed for a moment, and when she opened them they were glistening with tears.

"I was surprised that you lasted this long, actually" muttered Lea, but Justine grabbed Lily's arm. "They're looking at us…" she whispered urgently, jerking her head to James, who was staring sadly at Lily. She and Justine escorted their friend to the bathroom, ignoring James' pathetic gaze.

"Back to the beginning again!" James muttered, sticking his fork sullenly into his sausage.

* * *

**A/N: I'm so sorry! I know I promised I would update by Thursday... But hey! Just blame it on my beta... It's all her fault! Lol, jk... Thanks to those who reviewed!**

**Chapter 8 comes when reviews do! I'd feel extra special if I made it to 40 reviews... I'll even give each reviewer a cupcake! How does that sound?**


	8. Of Broom Closets and Kisses

**UNPRANKABLE**

**Chapter 8: Of Broom Closets and Kisses**

* * *

"Things getting better between James and Lily?" said Justine hopefully as Sirius took a place across from her at the Gryffindor table for lunch.

Sirius laughed dryly. "About as much as Snape and James became best friends." Remus twitched slightly.

"It's been two weeks since they've even talked to each other!" Justine moaned, her head falling into her hands limply.

"Well after the whole Snape thing, you wouldn't really expect them to, would you?" Remus commented bitterly. Sirius knew that he felt guilty over the whole incident. He believed that it was his fault because they all had to go out there every month, so Sirius put an comforting arm around him.

"Remus, its not your fault," he said calmly. Suddenly his face twisted and he wailed, "Its mine," and dropped his head onto the table.

"Um, Sirius?" said Lea, sounding as if she was muffling her laughter. "You sort of just stuffed your head into the mashed potatoes."

Sirius lifted his head. Several white, mushy clumps of mashed potato fell off of his face and onto his pants. "Oh, thats just great," he said sarcastically. "You know what? I don't really care at this point," he spat sourly, sticking his head back in the potatoes.

"I'm not even going to ask what happened," said James, raising his eyebrows and seating himself at the table.

"Eye aryoo lade phfoor ffdinner?" Peter said thickly through a mouthful of chicken.

"Excuse me?" said James amusedly, raising his eyebrows.

Peter swallowed. "Why are you late for dinner?"

"Oh,dunno," muttered James absently.

"What? How can you not know why you were-" began Peter.

"Hi Lily!" interrupted Lea pointedly. Peter stopped talking at once, and resumed eating (ha, he was practically chugging) his chicken.

"Hi," she answered stiffly, sitting as far away from James as possible. James glanced at her sadly, but she pretended not to notice. She saw Peter stuffing the chicken in his mouth out of the corner of her eye and opened her own mouth to tell him that it was gross and disruptive, but she closed it again when she remembered she wasn't speaking to him or any of the marauders. Lily put some steak on her plate, and as she reached for the jug of pumpkin juice she saw a pompous figure making his way towards her.

"Oh shit," she moaned softly to Lea and Justine. "Here he comes…." She quickly poured herself some pumpkin juice and swallowed some quickly, massaging her temples.

"Who?" asked Justine curiously.

"Diggory," Lily groaned, her face miserable. "He keeps on following me around!"

"That player –" started Lea angrily, but Lily shushed her. She quickly turned around and pasted a fake grin on her face as Amos became closer.

"Hi Lily!" exclaimed Amos, if as on cue.

"Hi Amos," she said, sounding bored. "What a pleasant surprise." To the contrary, she sounded as if she would rather be having a conversation with the Bloody Baron, but Amos did not seem to notice.

Amos coughed, and flipped his hair back. "I was wondering if you had anyone to go to Hogsmeade with tomorrow," he said arrogantly, flashing her what he probably thought was a dazzling smile.

"Um, well…no…" she answered truthfully, regretting it instantly. She could have told him that she was going with Lea and Justine…but now, it was too late. Amos was already getting down on one knee. Lily groaned inwardly. He was not making this easy.

Amos grasped her hand. "Would you allow me the honor of going with you?" he asked dramatically, gazing into her eyes. Lea began to choke on her chicken, and Remus (who was sitting next to her) had to get up and give her the Heimlich. Sirius lifted his now white face and stared at Amos, who looked a bit taken aback at seeing a replica of frosty the snowman across the table. And James...well, James just looked like he was going to kill Amos. Luckily, Peter noticed the murderous look on James' face and restrained him with his arms.

"Uh…well…" Lily stammered, looking around the room for a way out. She glanced at James and saw that he looked furious. She then knew what she had to do.

"Amos," she declared loudly. "I would love to go to Hogsmeade with you." She glanced quickly at James, who was staring at her with a mixture of shock, confusion, and hurt.

"Great, we'll meet up tomorow then!" he exclaimed, getting up and kissing her hand. "I'll meet you at 10 at that old statue of Augustine the 4th." As soon as he was out of earshot, Lily's fake smile flew off her face, and she dropped her head in her hands.

"Why did you do that?" groaned Justine. "I thought you hated him!"

Lily looked at her for a sec, then whispered to her, "Look at James' face."

Justine glanced at James, then back at Lily. "Ah," she said softly back to Lily. "I see what you're doing. But you have to put up with Amos, poor Lily."

Lily giggled. "Yeah, what a prick."

Remus must have overheard that last sentence, because he said, "Um... how about not going out with him then?" Lily glared at him, and he held up his hands. "Just a suggestion."

Lily sighed and put her fork down, her dinner uneaten. "I guess I'll go back to the Common Room then, I still have to do that Divination essay…" said Lily, getting up. "I'll see you later," she said to Lea and Justine. As soon as she had left, everyone turned to James, whose hazel eyes were following her out the Great Hall sadly.

"You're in deep shit with her, you know," said Lea bluntly.

"Thanks a lot Lea," he answered sarcastically, turning around to face his friends. "What do I do?" he moaned, shaking his head and banging on the table with his fist.

"I honestly don't know," said Lea, who did not know what had happened the night Lily followed the marauders into the shrieking shack. "You guys were all chummy, then all of the sudden everything just went kaput!"

Sirius lifted his face, and grabbed a napkin. He wiped off all of the potato remnants, and looked at Lea, who was staring at him curiously. He then began to plead with James.

"Can I please tell her, James? She won't tell, I know it!"

Remus cleared his throat. "I think that Remus is who you should be asking," said James, rolling his eyes as Sirius practically pounced on him.

"Oh _please_ Remus," Sirius begged. "You won't tell anyone, will you Lea?" he added, turning to Lea, who looked a bit taken aback, but nevertheless replied, "Of course...?"

Remus sighed, and nodded. "Thanks!" Sirius chirped, turning back to Lea, who now looked REALLY confused.

"Ok, what's going on?" she said curiously.

Sirius looked deep into her eyes. "You have to promise not to tell anyone, Lea," he said slowly, his eyes boring into hers.

Lea looked flustered at his intimate eye contact. "I – um –" she stumbled. "O-of course I won't tell anyone!" she finally managed to say, relieved that she could talk understandably once more.

Sirius glanced around quickly to make sure that no one was listening, and leaned over to whisper in Lea's ear. Lea's eyes gradually became wider and wider, and she stared at Remus, who shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

As Sirius sat back in his seat again, Lea hung her head, running her fingers through it over and over. It was one of her nervous habits, and Remus was looking at her causiously, afraid of what she might say. He was surprised to see two tear stains on her pretty face when she glanced up again.

"Lea," he said softly. "What's wrong?"

Lea shook her head, her long brown hair flying everywhere. "I'm – I'm so sorry, Remus," she whispered, staring at him with her big brown eyes. "I'm just so afraid for you!"

Remus' own eyes watered. "Lea, its not your fault –"

"I know that," Lea whispered, and he stopped talking, still staring at her. "But all those times that I yelled at you for being out past hours…I shouldn't have…its not your fault either…"

"Oh, Lea," Remus whispered. "You have nothing to feel guilty for."

It was at that moment that Sirius felt his stomach jolt. Lea and Remus – sharing a tender moment? It wasn't possible – he was dating that other chick – and…Lea…

Sirius coughed loudly, and Remus and Lea both stared at him. "I think its time to – um – go…" he said, feeling his face redden enormously. James was smirking, and Remus was too, but Lea just looked confused.

"Why do we have to go?" she said, drying her tears with the sleeve of her robes.

"Um…" Sirius mumbled. "Well, you know –"

"Oh yeah, Sirius, thanks for reminding me," said Remus loudly. "We have that potions paper to finish."

"You guys still haven't done that?" said Justine, laughing slightly.

Sirius grinned out of relief. "Yeah," he said, shrugging. "Lets go, Remus." They got up and began making their way towards the door.

"Thanks for that, mate," Sirius whispered inconspicuously.

"Anytime," Remus whispered back, smiling.

* * *

"Well you know Lily, my family tree is very intricate! It's quite interesting, really," said Amos, his arm draped around Lily's shoulders possesively. She sighed disgustedly, tuning out on Amos' incessant blabber. He had been going on about his family line for awhile now, and it was neither intricate or interesting. She had been daydreaming ever since she got to the Three Broomsticks an hour or two ago. 

If only she could get away...

Suddenly, an idea popped into Lily's head. "Hey, um, Amos?"

Amos stopped talking, and glared at her. "I was just getting to the best part!"

"What? Oh yes, yes its very interesting Amos, but I'm not really feeling well…I'm afraid I have to go back," Lily said, trying to sound saddened, She coughed for good measure.

Amos looked disappointed. "Are you sure? I myself know a few healing charms, perhaps –"

"No, Amos, its fine," Lily interrupted, standing up and dropping a few sickles onto the table for her drink. "Thanks for everything Amos, I had a great time," she lied, walking out of the shop.

She heard footsteps behind her, and Amos call of "Lily, wait!" made her stop and turn around.

Amos ran up to her, out of breath. "At least let me walk you back to the castle," he said.

Lily stifled a groan. "Ok," she said through clenched teeth.

Once back at the castle, Amos insisted that they take the long route, obviously trying to snog her before the night is over. He continued to talk inconsistently, and Lily was afraid that the only way to shut him up would be to kiss him. She shuddered at the thought.

Lily glanced around for an escape. Astronomy tower… no, that wouldn't work…couples usually made out there. Lily shuddered again and Amos stopped talking to look at her, confused.

"Are you alright, Lily? You're shivering."

Lily smiled weakly. "I'm ok," she said blearily, just waiting for this night to end.

A few minutes later, Lily's patience was at its end. Amos had begun talking about his previous girlfriends, something Lily did not want to picture.

"And Ginger, woah, she was hot," he said dreamily. "She – Lily? Lily, where are you going?"

Lily had taken off at that last statement, running around the corner at top speed. She could hear Amos huffing behind her, and opened the nearest door, running inside and closing it.

"Finally," she said, wiping her forehead. "Away from that IDIOT."

"Idiot?"

Lily jumped and stared behind her. James Potter was grinning at her from the other corner of the closet.

"James," she gasped, holding a hand to her chest. "You scared the life out of me!"

James shrugged, still smiling. "So Diggory is an idiot, eh?"

Lily groaned and nodded, holding a finger up to her mouth and pressing her ear to the door. Silence. "He left, thank God," she said, giggling.

"Well, I'll be leaving then!" exclaimed James nervously, fiddling with the door handle. He tried to open it, but the handle wouldn't turn.

"Don't tell me," said Lily, closing her eyes in horrible realization. "We're locked in."

"Shit," James cursed, and flung himself to the other side of the closet again. Lily groaned again at his confermation, and put her hands to her head.

James smiled as best as he could. Lily took a few deep breaths, then got up and tried the door knob herself, pulling on it as hard as she could.

"Shit!" Lily shrieked, just as James had done a minute or two before.

"What?"

"I just broke the handle off," she moaned.

James sniggered. Lily looked at him, and burst into laughter herself. After a few minutes, however, they began to calm down.

"James?" said Lily, sounding scared.

"Yeah?" James said, smile wiped from his face and replaced with one of concern.

"This doesn't mean I forgive you, you know," she said awkwardly.

"But you're talking to me," James pointed out.

Lily banged on the wall as she remembered that she wasn't supposed to be speaking to any of the marauders. "Dammit!" James chuckled, and she glared at him. "Well after what you did..." she started angrily, but was cut of by James' equally heated voice.

"I didn't do anything!" he said, irritated.

"Oh, except almost kill Snape!" Lily shouted back at him.

"I knew nothing about it!" James pleaded.

"Oh come on, don't lie!" Lily scoffed.

"I am not lying!" James cried anxiously.

Lily just sighed, and he was quiet once more. "I wish you would believe me, Lily," he said softly.

Lily looked at him, her eyes full of pity. "I wish I could believe you, James."

"Why can't you?" he fumed. "Why _won't _you?"

"Because of what you've done in the past, James!" Lily shouted, her temper flaring once more. "You could be lying right now, this could all be some sort of prank!"

James almost laughed. "That's why you won't forgive me?"

Lily stared at him, confused at his sudden mood change. "Yes, why?"

"Because it's the stupidest thing I've ever heard!" James flung his hands up into the air. "Why would I lie about something like this, Lily? Hasn't our friendship taught you _anything _about me?"

Lily turned away from him so he couldn't see her watering eyes. James sighed, and when she had dried her eyes, he was looking at the wall.

"Do you think anyone's going to rescue us?" asked James a few minutes later. Lily glared at him.

"Someone better, or you can kiss that pretty face goodbye!"

"Pretty face? Wow. I believe Lady Lily just complimented me!" James said mockingly.

Lily gave an exasperated noise, and shifted her position, yawning.

"So why were you in here anyway?" asked Lily as civilly as she could.

"Sirius had a bit of fun with pink hair dye and Malfoy, and unfortunately I seem to be the one getting blamed," laughed James.

Lily gave a polite laugh and fell silent.

"I didn't have anything to do with it!" James said suddenly. Lily looked up at him as he continued. "To make a long story short, Sirius organized the whole thing without telling us. I wouldn't have put Moony's secret in danger! I mean," he continued desperately. "I know I pull pranks and stuff, but I would never – _never _betray someone like that."

Lily's eyes were wide, and a tear slipped down her cheek as her lip began to tremble. James crawled over to her and took her in his arms, wiping the tear off of her face. "Well look at that, Lily Evans crying," he whispered as she began to cry. Lily pulled her lips up to his ear, and James felt his heart begin to race.

"I forgive you, James."

James felt his heart jump, and a grin was plastered on his face. James didn't think he could get rid of that smile if he tried.

He turned his face to look at Lily, ready to thank her, but he was cut off by her eyes. Dark hazel met emerald green, and the electric shock Lily had felt when their hands had touched flew through her again. James' breathing became heavy, and he leaned forward, towards her face. James didn't know what was coming over him, this feeling of boldness, but he knew he should take advantage of it while he still could.

Their faces were inches apart now – he could feel Lily's breath on his face. _She's not pulling away_, he thought with fervor. _She wants to kiss me!_ With a sudden burst of confidence, James pressed his lips against Lily's, pulling his arms tighter around her waist. Lily responded almost immediately, her hand sneaking up his neck and fiddling with his hair.

And then – it was over.

James backed up, his eyes wide and his heart beating faster than ever at what he had just done. He'd wanted to do that for longer than he could remember, but could never muster up enough courage to actually _do_ it.

Lily's mind was whirling – the door that usually closed when she had completed a thought stayed open, and one sentence was running through her mind, over and over. _James just kissed me. James just kissed me. James just kissed me!_

James didn't know what to say. So he hugged Lily close and rested his eyes.

Before he knew it, he was fast asleep, dreams of a red headed girl running through his head.

* * *

"Hello?" 

"Is anyone in there?"

"Ughhh," Lily moaned, and opened her eyes, blearily looking around. She had heard a voice…a boy's voice…where was it coming from? She blinked, and everything came into focus – including the fact that she was sleeping on a warm, breathing pillow.

"James!" she squeaked, trying to scramble out of his arms. However, James was still asleep, and Lily was providing him with body heat. He wrapped his arm's tighter around her, and Lily blushed, memories of the previous night rushing back to her.

"Hey, is someone in there?" came a voice again, this time a girl's.

James opened his eyes lazily. His eyes widened as he saw that he was clutching to Lily as if she were his favorite toy. He let go and she sprung away from him, both in slight shock.

What was left of the handle started moving. Someone was trying to get in – the boy and girl she had heard, no doubt. That boy's voice _had _seemed familiar to Lily…

"Come on, baby!" said the boy, trying to be suave. "We can go 'get it on' somewhere else!"

"But this is our favorite place!" whined the girl.

As if coming out of a reverie, Lily shouted "Hey, we're in here!"

"Ahh! There are PEOPLE in here!" cried the girl's voice.

"Oh my gosh!" yelled the boy frantically.

"We're going to get caught!" the girl hissed.

"Please help us!" cried James, banging on the door.

"But what about us snogging, huh? What about that?" the boy asked mockingly.

"Will you two quit it and get us OUT?" Lily shouted angrily.

"He's right," said the girl's voice. "But we're going to have to pull the hinges off!" Lily giggled, and light became streaming through where the hinges had previously been. It was a matter of minutes before the couple had managed to remove the door completely. Lily stepped out first, and came face to face with Amos Diggory, who's hand was clutched by a slutty Ravenclaw girl.

"Um, I guess I won't be seeing you tomorrow then!" exclaimed Lily, overjoyed. James came out next, and as he saw Diggory, his face became a mask of rage.

"I can't believe you would cheat on Lily!" he growled, and Amos whimpered. "Who else could you get that is better than Lily?"

Amos Diggory stared at her in shock. "But-Well, I'm- I-I-" he stuttered.

"Don't bother," she smiled. "And James," she added, smiling shyly at him. "Thanks." James smiled at her, and whispered, "No problem."

"C'mon, Amos," the girl whined, tugging on the boy's arm. "I don't wanna watch these two make googoo eyes all night, lets go!" Amos gave one last frightened stare at James, and the two scampered off into the distance.

"Well," said James uncomfortably. "Shall we go, my fair lady?"

Lily giggled, and took the hand he offered to her. "I would be honored, handsome knight." James smiled at her, and hesitantly leaned forward to kiss her on the cheek. Lily smiled back, but said, "You missed." James grinned, and Lily's knees became weak as he leaned in and pressed his lips to hers.

* * *

**A/N: There we go! I hope you like it... I had a great time writing it! Thanks go to my beta who is WONDERFUL! Lol, now for my beloved reviewers...**

**THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! (even to those I haven't heard from in a while.. ;) Cupcakes for Hazel Shine, ArtemisPotter, PotterScar, and yellow notepaper (my beta- check out her stories, they're really good!)**

**Next chapter... Some Sirius/someone special, some Remus/Justine... And of course some Lily/James. Maybe even a good ol' Marauder prank!**

**Love to all!**


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